These Inspiring Teen Girls Invented a Solar-Powered Housing Solution for the Homeless -- Now They Are Presenting Their Work at MIT A dozen young Latina scientists used innovation and ingenuity to help those in need.
By Nina Zipkin
In Southern California's San Fernando Valley, 12 teenage inventors joined forces in an effort to aid their community's homeless population.
"Because we come from low-income families ourselves, we can't give them money," high school student Daniela Orozco explained to Mashable. So the group of aspiring inventors came up with an idea to build a solar-powered tent that could double as a backpack.
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Prior to working together, they had never done any kind of engineering before, so they decided to teach themselves the ins and outs of things such as 3D printing through internet research and YouTube tutorials.
This week, the girls will present their project at MIT's EurekaFest, an annual event put on to inspire and showcase young inventors. The team was awarded a $10,000 grant from the Lemelson-MIT Program to make their idea a reality.
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They also partnered with a 5-year-old Los Angeles-based nonprofit called DIY Girls, which is dedicated to supporting and mentoring girls who are interested in STEM fields and raised $15,000 to send the teens to EurekaFest.
The work of the DIY Girls InvenTeam shows that if you see a problem in the world, teamwork and perseverance can help you go far in solving it.
